I've been in a content marketing funk.

Reels have felt like moving a couch up a staircase. TikTok is collecting dust. I know exactly what I should be making. I just haven't wanted to make it.

The thing about funks is that the usual advice makes them worse. "Just be consistent." "Post every day." Cool, thank you, I will go lie down.

Meanwhile, my Middle of Somewhere newsletter spent October basically holding still. Two new subscribers. All month. One person unsubscribed, so call it a net gain of one human. I love that human. But it was not a growth curve I want to brag about as a marketer.

So I put on my strategist hat and asked: what can I swap in for a low-lift top-of-funnel strategy while I work through this season? Instead of forcing the heavy stuff, I gave myself permission to do the easy stuff. I fell back on the two lightest top-of-funnel tactics I had and stacked them.

On November 4th, the list had 65 subscribers. Today it has 152.

Here's how.

Layer one: Threads.

Last Thursday I took a challenge and did it: 24 threads in 24 hours. The number was never really the point. I needed to get out of my own way. I didn't hit 24 threads posted, but it didn't matter. Every post I did put up that day took off, and in each one I mentioned the newsletter and invited people to join.

52 people subscribed that day.

Then the tail kept going: 11 the next day, then 2, 10, 7, and 4 so far today.

Layer two: Facebook ads.

Quick context: Middle of Somewhere doesn't make any money right now. No sponsors, no paid subscriptions, nothing. So any ad budget was coming straight out of my own pocket. I decided to try it anyway, mostly for fun, to see what would happen.

I decided on $5 a day while testing, then bringing it down to $1/day. The ad sends people to the website, and right now a new subscriber costs me about 67 cents. That number has dropped every single day.

Here's why the two work better together.

Threads is the spike. Free, fast, and completely unpredictable. You can schedule the posts, but you can't schedule which ones take off. You can only show up enough that one does.

The ads are the floor. Boring, cheap, and they run whether I post or not.

And both point to the same place: the email list. The only one of the three I actually own.

The best part is the new people are reading. 57% open rate.

Here's what I'm taking from it (and want you to take from it too): A stack can run on low energy.

Your marketing strategy is allowed to shift with your season. Some seasons you have the energy for daily Reels and a big launch. Some seasons you have enough for a few Threads posts and a $1 ad. Both count. Build for the capacity you have right now, and add layers back as your energy comes back. The stack keeps working either way.

Talk soon,
Victoria

P.S. Threads was the part I was most skeptical of. It's now about half my signups. I'm as surprised as you are.